Talk:Vladimir/@comment-1920550-20150108062523/@comment-25447003-20150110143921
At first glance Vladimir looks like an OP champion, his passive seems impressive : we can build AP for damage and still somehow tanky. But in Season 4, Vladimir is surpassed at most aspects by Ryze (at least until Ryze nerf 4.19 IIRC). Ryze has: + more harrass (shorter CD & even shorter CD as the game goes) + a good snare (useful when escape as well as to "capture" a champion - and more damage). Ryze's W snare is useful because just 1 sec locked is probably enough to take down an AD carry; whilst Vlad W is very soft slow and risky for himself. + better basic stat: Attack for last hits, movement speed, armor & health (although a little but they all counts) + more tankiness scale (due to better synchronization with items - in previous sessions Vlad has some nice items) + Short CD ultimate ® which helps easier kill by spellvamp + movemnt speed. (He can use 2 or 3 times more than Vladimir) + More damage (single target) - ok now it can be more close since Ryze just got nerfed. + Less counter picks: it's actually a result of other disadvantages. Maybe 3 or 4 champions can give Ryze hard time laning but he just need to survive and later he is more and more useful in teamfight. Vlad has that "scale scheme" too but in laning phase there are 7 or 8 champions can give him hard time, deny farming and then Vlad influence on the game is just... meh. (FYI, it's one of my 3 criteria of an "OP" champion: versatile builds, few counters, strong presence teamfight) . If I was in Riot balance team, I would add some buff for Vlad to make him viable in high level play: - less cost on his W : 20% health is a huge cost, given the cooldown is already longgg. At level 18 Vlad at least has 2500 health and 20% of that is 500 -> An active W will cost like Vladimir just got a 800-900 damage burst! This is ridiculous because the cooldown is high enough and the only "CC" is just too soft - 1s slow. Take a look at Fizz's E and you see it has nice damage, better range, approx half cooldown ! - His Ulti ®: restore the damage amp ratio to 15% (i.e. reverted a previous nerf), or at least reduce the cooldown to 100/90/80 - Create some items can sync with Vlad: probably some spellvamp items. Why only Hextech revolver and 2 extended items? AD has much more lifesteal items and can start at much cheaper price (440G or 800G compared to 1200G, and even stacking! ) . Some S3 items which used to be good for Vlad now is not available, and the Doran Shield nerf hurts Vladimir a lot ! - Increase base attack damage: 48 -> 55 (similar to ChoGath, but Cho has E passive which adds magic damage like Orianna innate, Teemo's E passive or Kayle's E toggle).